Was it difficult keeping within budget on a film with so many special effects?
We knew we had to do it at a certain budget, so we shot the live action for under $10 million, and the special effects for about $17 million. It was like taking a Porsche engine and putting it into a Volkswagon. This is the kind of film that wouldn't warrant being a $100 million movie. I think it would spoil the very idea. Once you spend $100 million on a movie, it has to appeal to all these different segments of the audience - you start to chip away at the very thing that made it cool.We didn't have to compromise with the tone and the characters, it could just be what it is.
So how does working on a relatively low budget film compare to the big budget movies?
I think it should be whatever is the right budget for the particular movie. For instance, I didn't make the movie, but I loved "Spider-Man". I wouldn't want to see "Spider-Man" as a $30 million picture. I thought that movie deserved every penny they spent on it. I saw it on the screen and it was great. But there have been other films where I don't understand why they spent that kind of money. I think it really depends on the project and I think it's the role of the producer to try and enforce where those limits are and decide what makes sense for that particular picture. But I would make a $150 million film tomorrow if I felt the story and the film warranted it.
Why do you think people are so frightened of spiders?
It's really interesting. My fianc茅 hates spiders. If there's a spider in the house, we're spending the night in a hotel. When she found out about this movie, she said, "I'm not going to see it. I'm not seeing your movie." But when I was reviewing the first clips of the giant spiders, she saw them and said, "Oh they are so cute." I thought, "They're cute! They're not supposed to be cute." I went into a panic. But then I realized that when a spider is really small and it can crawl up your leg or get up the back of your neck, that's the most horrible thing in the world. But when it's the size of a car, they're kind of silly. This movie isn't meant to traumatize, it's meant to entertain.
